A spinless coating method is used prevalently by a photolithographic process included in manufacturing processes for manufacturing a flat panel display (FPD), such as a LCD. The spinless coating method pours a resist solution onto a substrate, such as a glass substrate, through a discharge opening having the shape of a slit and formed in a long resist discharge nozzle while the resist discharge nozzle is moved along the surface of the substrate.
A spinless coating method disclosed in Patent document 1 carries a substrate by a flotation-carrying system using a flotation-carrying stage that carries the substrate floating above the flotation-carrying stage in a horizontal direction parallel to the length of the flotation-carrying stage. A long resist discharge nozzle disposed at a predetermined position above a middle part of the flotation-carrying stage discharges a resist solution in a band onto the substrate moving under the resist discharge nozzle to coat the substrate entirely with the resist solution.
The flotation-carrying stage of the flotation-carrying system is provided with many jet openings in the entire upper surface of the flotation-carrying stage in a predetermined density, and many suction openings in a predetermined coating area extending on the front and the rear side of a position directly below the resist discharge nozzle in a predetermined density. A high-pressure or positive-pressure gas, such as air, is jetted through the jet openings to make the substrate float above the flotation-carrying stage. Air is sucked by suction through the suction openings. The balance of a pressure applied vertically upward by the air jetted through the jet openings and a pressure applied vertically downward by the air sucked through the suction openings is controlled to apply a precise flotation pressure to the substrate. Usually, both the jet openings and the suction openings are round openings. The jet openings and the suction openings are arranged at fixed intervals along a carrying direction, namely, an X-direction, and a horizontal direction, namely, a Y-direction, in a lattice or a matrix.
The flotation-carrying system, as compared with a moving-nozzle system that holds a substrate fixedly, moves a long resist solution discharge nozzle horizontally over the substrate and discharges a resist solution in a band to coat the surface of the substrate entirely with the resist solution, is advantageous in coating a large substrate with a resist solution using a large, long resist solution discharge nozzle.
Patent document 1: JP 2005-244155 A